Money for Uni.. How much?

Soldato
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How much money should be saved up for uni...

i mean.. ive applied for the grants and that, i should get the most available given my home situation... (living with one parent who is on 11k a year)

but as for me... i work part time and over the summer ill be able to get £1000 saved up for the start for september..

so will £1000 plus max student loan grant thingy's be enough.. or will no amount be enough.,

i have no intentions of drinking every night, maybe once a week...
 
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It depends on what you are like and what you will buy in your year(s) at uni, I think I had saved up somewhere around £4-5,000 for my first year and then got a max student loan of another £4,000ish and spent all but around £1,000 of it. I did however come out of the year with a new PC(bought just before uni starting) and a Kona Stinky(bike in case someone doesn't know :)) so it wasn't totally wasted ;)

I'd just advise you to save up as much as possible beforehand, I avoided working in my first year and I'm very glad of that, it left me free to do any activities that mates suggested and left me a relatively easy transition into student life.
 
Soldato
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i had a total of £450 saved up before uni!

but having said that i lived at home and worked in my first year.... so that helped :p


now i'm just finishing my 2nd year and i still have £3400 in the bank!!!
i moved out but i still work, which brings in £220 a month.
 
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I should probably have said I did work for a year before going to uni so I had ample time to save. Loans + Student Bursary came to just shy of £4,000 if I remember rightly, we also get our tuition fees paid in Scotland by an organisation called SAAS(Student Awards Agency for Scotland) which is rather handy.

I did spend quite a lot of my first year out on the lash so to speak which partly explains the rate of spending but also through not working and doing as many activities as I could I went through probably more than most do or will need to. In the same situation I'd do the same again in a heartbeat as I had so much fun. :D
 
Soldato
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hmm.. i wonder how much i can get...

no idea how it works, as far as im aware its £3000 a year for 3 year for the course..

and however a year for accomodation - which i dont know.. think its £80 a week
 
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Accomadation should be about 2.5-3K, you'll have plenty of time for a part time job, about half of the people i know at uni work part time and some do even more than this although by your final year you should consider the effects work might have on your study time.
 
Soldato
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SidewinderINC said:
what uni you going to?

northumbria

i can stay at my part time job i have now.. but ill have to work weekends.. meaning ill be coming home every friday night, and going back every sunday night... its about 30odd miles from where i live.

buts its like a 2hr bus trip for some reason. id get £50 a weekend if i kept my job.. then obviously working the holidays.. might think its best just packing this job in when september comes.. and finding a job at newcastle
 
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Be better off getting a bar job tbh. Most unions have loads on rotation and it's a bit more social than going home every weekend.

Your only prob will be getting work in the holidays. But if you get union bar work you will have the experience to get another temp bar job when you go home.

If it's long-term work (1st, 2nd ,3rd year) you're after, then a supermarket is a good call as you can transfer back and forth between local + uni stores. Most of the part-time staff where i work do this.
 
Soldato
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I just finished my second year and at last count uni (and living whilst at uni) had set me back around 11 grand. I'm no help other than that because i'm useless at keeping track of money.
 

daz

daz

Soldato
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The max loan is around £4k a year outside of London, in Northumbria I imagine that will cover your accommodation and leave you with £2k for spending money, which is about £50 a week if you're in uni for ~40 weeks of the year. Not a bad sum if you're up North. You also have your overdraft which you can use as a buffer (only use it as a short term buffer though - too many people I know have got too accustomed to it...). If you can put £1k in your bank account between no and september, no doubt you'll be fine for your first year. :)

By comparison, living in London and being a student costs me about £11k a year. :o
 
Soldato
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I'd try and save as much as possible over the summer. In the past i've worked nights at tesco and earned about 2.5k over the summer working five nights a week for 10 weeks. Yes, its crap hours and antisocial, but the cash adds up quickly, and you'll pay hardly any tax if you stay under the threshhold for the year which is around 5k

If you work during term time i'd try and get something in or around campus, otherwise you won't get to know people if you go home every weekend. Depending on your course you might be able to work during the week
 
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LOTS !!! the more you have the better...

I get through at least £1k a semester.. probably cost £12k this year for uni inc everything.
 
Soldato
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ive always had money in the back since i left school.. as ive had a job ever since ive been out of school...

it will be a shock having nowt :p...

the people i know at uni are all in -numbers.. like -500.. -300 etc.

there is no way i want to be scraping about in -numbers...
 
Soldato
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lemonkettaz said:
ive always had money in the back since i left school.. as ive had a job ever since ive been out of school...

it will be a shock having nowt :p...

the people i know at uni are all in -numbers.. like -500.. -300 etc.

there is no way i want to be scraping about in -numbers...


as i say, i went to uni with £450 in the bank, ive never needed to be below 0!
 
Soldato
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lemonkettaz said:
think i need a leaf from your book

erm, have a dad that divorces your mum and leaves and doesnt talk to you for 10 years but still sends maintenance money per month.

:p

definately keep a job!

because my uni was only half an hour away from where i live with my mum i stayed at home in the first year. that built a solid money grounding. went into the 2nd year with £1800 saved up.
now i'm finishing the 2nd year with £3400.

whilst other people i know spend all of their student loan, i dont see the point so dont spend it. i'd rather save it.

sharking on fruit machines helped me out in the first year too and would often pay for a club night out :

go into local pub and stay there drinking, pay attention to the fruit machines, at the end of the night in the pub around closing time when you're already quite leathered take a pot shot at the one that hasnt payed out and you'll likely take another £30+ into the club!
 
Soldato
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lemonkettaz said:
lol..

cant work them machines out.. i know when to use them.. but not how to use them.,

a mate of mine always makes quite a bit out of them when he uses them

hehe, i'm glad i know how to use them. but wish i knew when to use them :p

i make a little, lose a little, make a lot, lose a lot.

all evens out in the end really.
 
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